Driver's Licenses

06/18/2012

A new law implemented in May requires individuals seeking a new driver's license to show proof that they've lived in Texas for at least the last 30 days. But as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, some say the new protocol reflects an anti-immigrant bias among state lawmakers.

02/17/2012

Yesterday, the New Mexico Legislature ended its 2012 session, leaving intact the 2003 state law that allows driver’s licenses to be issued to individuals regardless of immigration status. This marks the third unsuccessful attempt by Republican Governor Susana Martinez to repeal the state’s driver’s license law. HB103, the bill backed by Martinez, passed the House earlier this month but failed to make it through the Senate. An alternative Senate bill, SB235, which would have tightened residency requirements but not repealed the 2003 law, passed the Senate. Governor Martinez, however, vowed to veto that Senate bill. New Mexico and Washington are the only states that issue driver’s licenses regardless of immigration status (Utah issues a driving certificate that can’t be used for identification).

Republican Governor Susana Martinez has repeatedly tried (and failed) to repeal the state’s nearly decade old driver’s license law. Last year, a state district judge halted on constitutional grounds Gov. Martinez’s costly campaign to “certify” the driver’s licenses of foreign nationals. A spokesman for Gov. Martinez claims the current law “leads to fraud, human trafficking, organized crime and significant security concerns.” Supporters of the law, however, say the current policy aids cooperation between immigrant communities and local police as well as reduces the number of unlicensed drivers.

02/07/2012

The Texas Department of Public Safety’s classification of licenses for some legal residents as “limited term” documents is drawing criticism from some who claim the department is going against stated policy.

The documents in question are being issued to some after proving they are in the country legally when applying for driver’s licenses or state identification cards. The label “limited term” is at the top of the applicant’s license. The DPS states on its website that it issues such licenses upon “verification of temporary lawful presence in the U.S.” and that the licenses expire “when the period of lawful presence expires.”

But critics say that isn’t consistent with a policy stating that all licenses and ID cards should be in the same format.

In 2008, the DPS enacted a policy requiring proof of legal status before receiving state-issued licenses. It was challenged in courts after plaintiffs said the department acted without legislative authority. Part of the lawsuit argued that issuing a different license to noncitizens — a vertical document that read “temporary visitor” across the top in bold lettering — was discriminatory.

“We had stories about people that weren’t able to get credit, they weren’t able to get a bank account, weren’t able to or had problems registering for school, at the university,” said David Hinojosa, an attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. In June, MALDEF successfully argued for an injunction against the DPS policy, alleging it acted outside its scope of authority.

That proof-of-legal-status requirement, however, was granted in 2011 when the policy was added as an amendment to a fiscal matters bill passed during the special session that ended in June. Even U.S. citizens who had not done so previously must prove their legal status when they renew their licenses.

The amendment stated, however, that licenses “must be in the same format, have the same appearance and orientation; and contain the same type of information.” Some interpreted that to mean that DPS would stop issuing a different license to noncitizens.

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Expiration dates have also been an issue. The amendment authorizes the DPS to determine expiration dates for noncitizens based on when an immigration document expires. If the immigration document does not have an expiration date, the department may issue an ID or license that expires annually.

11/06/2011

The government's decision Wednesday not to kick out of the country former Jefferson High School valedictorian and DREAM Act poster child Benita Veliz is a rare instance of new deportation guidelines being implemented in San Antonio.

Immigration authorities agreed to close proceedings against Veliz, a 26-year-old graduate of St. Mary's University, five months after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton released a memo that sets out factors that prosecutors should take into account when deciding who will be deported.

The decision to drop the case against Veliz, who was put into deportation proceedings in January 2009 after being pulled over by a Helotes police officer and arrested for not having a license, was rare, immigration attorneys said.

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Veliz became an important figure in the movement to pass the DREAM Act — short for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act — in 2009 when a column ran in the New York Times with the headline “Don't Deport Benita Veliz.” She's since traveled to speak about the movement and was involved in efforts to sway Texas Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison to vote for the act, which died in the Senate last year.

Despite the good news for Veliz, immigration attorneys said they've seen little change in ICE policy since Morton released the memo laying out criteria prosecutors should take into account.

Those criteria include how long immigrants have been in the country, how old they were when they entered the country, whether they're pursing education and whether they or an immediate relative served in the U.S. military. Shivers said it's unusual in San Antonio for immigration authorities to exercise prosecutorial discretion, a power they've had for years, in such cases.

09/19/2011

I met a woman today who had been to the Texas Department of Public Safety to renew her driver's license. They told her that the Legal Permanent Resident card that she was issued years ago with no expiration date could not be used to renew her Texas Driver's License. In order to renew her Driver's License, they told her that she must obtain a new permanent resident card that must be renewed every 10 years.

This is wrong. DPS is refusing documentation that is acceptable to Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS).

The report's anecdotal accounts, 127 case examples from AILA members covering incidents in 24 states and the District of Columbia, are consistent with DHS's own data showing deportation of tens of thousands of individuals who have been picked up for minor infractions and who pose no threat to our communities.

The report questions whether federal immigration agents should respond to individual roadside calls by local law enforcement unless there are indications that the person poses a risk to public safety Immigration enforcement must be targeted, and by responding to referrals from local law enforcement in a largely indiscriminate manner, DHS is being diverted from its own stated priorities. In addition, the report raises concerns about the erosion of community trust, hindrances to community policing, and racial profiling.

Eleven of the 127 cases in AILA's report took place in Texas. In six of those 11 cases, no criminal charges were pursued. In the remaining five cases, drivers were only convicted or ticketed for minor offenses like driving without a license, having a broken light, or having unpaid parking tickets. In two cases, police officers called ICE from the roadside, and held individuals until immigration officers arrived at the scene to take them into custody. Several cases include facts that suggest racial profiling, including some of those discussed below. In five cases, individuals were pulled over or questioned for no reason whatsoever, and two other cases involve traffic stopfor violations so trivial as to suggest the real reason for the stop was assessing immigration status. Five of the cases involve people with U.S. citizen children, spouses, or parents; atleast ten involve people with no previous criminal history.

:: In June 2011, a man was pulled over, and a sheriff's deputy immediately asked him for his passport. When the man asked why he had been pulled over, the deputy said it was because his lights were not on, even though it was already light out. The deputy wrote a ticket, recording the time 6:45am, even though the time of the stop was actually 7:15am. The officer held the man at the roadside until CBP officers came to pick him up. He is now in removal proceedings. The man's wife is a U.S. citizen, and he has lived in the U.S. for 15 years.

:: In June 2010, a man was leaving a convenience store when he was stopped by a sheriff's deputy and asked for identification. Since he could not produce any, he was arrested. Although he was not charged with any crime, he was taken to the sheriff's office and held until CBP picked him up. Later, he accepted voluntary departure.

:: In March 2011, a man was side-swiped by another driver who was making a turn. However, when the police arrived 15 minutes later and discovered that he did not have a license, they accused him of being at fault and questioned him about his immigration status. The other driver was let go, but he was arrested for driving without a license. ICE was contacted and he is now in removal proceedings. He is a longtime resident of the U.S., graduated from high school in the U.S., and is a leader in his church's youth group.

:: In June 2010, a man was driving with his family when a sheriff's deputy pulled him over because the light on their license plate was out. The deputy asked for a driver's license and proof of immigration status, both of which the man provided. The deputy then asked for identification from everyone in the car and ordered everyone out of the car, including the driver's wife and their three children. The driver's wife showed a valid Texas ID card, and the deputy then asked for proof of her immigration status. When she could not provide it, the deputy arrested her without charging her with any crime. She was held by the sheriff's office until CBP could pick her up. She has no criminalhistory and is a stay-at-home mom who has never driven in the United States. She is currently in removal proceedings.

08/01/2011

AUSTIN, TX – Yesterday, the 345th District Court inTravis County granted a declaratory judgment and enjoined the Texas Departmentof Public Safety (DPS) from enforcing rules it created that deny driver'slicenses to immigrants living and working in Texas with authorization from the federal government. The court granted the relief in a suit brought by theMexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) together with co-counsel Graves, Doughtery, Hearon & Moody ("Graves Dougherty") in Austin, Texas, on behalf of six individuals who hold visas authorizing them to reside and work in the United States, as well as a landscaping business that employs foreign workers under the federal H-2B program. MALDEF's case challenged recently-adopted rules and policies of DPS that prevented thousands of persons across Texas from receiving standard-issued licenses even though they possessed valid immigration documents issued by the federal government.

Judge Orlinda L. Naranjo held that DPS acted outside the scope of its legislative authority when it adopted the new rules, and that DPS does not have the authority to deny legal immigrants Texas licenses, to require them to present proof of their lawful presence, or to issue them non-standard licenses in a vertical format that identify them as "TEMPORARY VISITORS"and include their "status date."

Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF President and General Counsel, stated, "As a nation of immigrants, our tradition, too often violated historically and today, is to welcome immigrants and incorporate them into our society, cognizant of the enduring contributions immigrants have made and continue to make. The unlawful DPS attempt to deny licenses to immigrants violated our national tradition and aspiration, so we welcome the court's wiseruling."

"We are very pleased that the Court halted DPS from implementing its own arbitrary, misguided policies that denied licenses to hardworking immigrants living in the United States with permission," saidDavid Hinojosa, MALDEF Southwest Regional Counsel and lead attorney in the case."These irrational policies have not only affected those immigrants and their families, causing them to suffer from discrimination, but also impacted hundreds of Texas businesses who legally employ immigrants, and we are glad to put an end to the senseless action."

The court entered the judgment following a hearing yesterday on a motion for judgment. A one-day trial was held in Austin on May10, 2011 in which the plaintiffs challenged the rules adopted by the Public Safety Commission in 2008 that effectively allowed DPS to exclude otherwise qualified persons from receiving driver's licenses solely on the basis that they held less than one-year visas or had less than six-months remaining of permission on their visas. DPS also changed the appearance of driver's licenses for persons with legal permission to reside in the U.S., but who are not U.S.citizens or legal permanent residents, and shortened the expiration term of licenses for such persons-all without the Texas Legislature ever passing a law authorizing DPS to do such.

Pete Schenkkan of Graves Dougherty Hearon & Moody,P.C., MALDEF's co-counsel, said "We were honored to be asked to help with this important case and are delighted with Judge Naranjo's decision upholdingTexas laws and American values."

"DPS created havoc by attempting to inject its political agenda into the lawmaking process," added MALDEF staff attorney Marisa Bono, co-counsel in the case. "The court's judgment puts a stop to that agenda."

Many Democrats are crowing that the 82nd Legislature will go down as one in which, despite the "emergency" push for sanctuary cities legislation, nothing emerged from the Capitol that waill substantially alter the way immigration laws are enforced. Yet Republicans did manage to eke out one small victory during the special session, successfully attaching language to Senate Bill 1, the must-pass fiscal matters bill, that would require people applying for driver's licenses or other state-issued identification cards to prove they're in the country legally.

Such a policy, as opposed to a law on the books, had been in effect since 2008, when the Texas Department of Public Safety began requiring applicants for driver’s licenses and ID cards to produce government-issued documents that affirmed their legal status. Before 2008, according to DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange, such proof was not required to obtain a license or ID.

Immigrants' rights groups were irate over the policy change, which they alleged could have the effect of denying legal residents access to those forms of ID, with DPS clerks acting as de facto immigration agents. In 2009, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund sued DPS, arguing that the agency overstepped its authority by implementing the policy even though the Legislature rejected similar legislation in the 2007 session.

Last month, however, House Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, took matters into his own hands. Pitts cribbed language requiring applicants for driver's licenses and ID cards to prove their legal residency from Senate Bill 9, an omnibus homeland security bill filed by state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, and added it as an amendment to SB 1. The amendment also allows the DPS to determine expiration dates for those IDs based on when an immigration document was issued. For a non-citizen or non-permanent legal resident, DPS can issue a document that “expires on the earlier of a date specified by DPS or the expiration date of the applicant's authorized stay in the United States.” If the immigration document does not have an expiration date, DPS can issue an ID or license that expires every year.

During the just-concluded regular and special sessions, Williams argued that Texas was only one of three states that didn’t have a policy regarding legal status for ID applicants and said one was necessary to ensure that foreign criminals were not receiving IDs. He noted that, as part of an appropriation of $64 million over the next biennium for temporary visitors stations, DPS staff will be trained to identify and approve the dozens of immigration documents currently used to apply for driver's licenses and IDs.

06/30/2011

An immigration-related provision tucked into a must-pass budget bill could have more of an effect on Texans than the high-profile sanctuary cities legislation that the Legislature did not pass.

Throughout the regular and special sessions, lawmakers spent dozens of hours debating and hearing testimony on so-called sanctuary cities legislation, which would prohibit governments from adopting policies that prevent law enforcement from asking about detainees' immigration status. The bill, which was labeled an emergency item by Gov. Rick Perry, never got out of the Legislature.

But a less examined — and arguably more wide-reaching — piece of immigration-related legislation will soon become a law.

A provision in the approved Senate Bill 1, the special session's must-pass school finance bill, will require people to prove U.S. citizenship or legal residence before they can renew or get a Texas driver's license.